


Surrounded by Stars, All I Can Think About is You

by astrokidd



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Age Difference, F/M, Fluff, Reader-Insert, Tony Stark-centric, college!Peter Parker, college!reader, fem!reader - Freeform, make out smut, not canon at all, tony stark fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-13
Updated: 2019-03-15
Packaged: 2019-05-21 16:51:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14919216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astrokidd/pseuds/astrokidd
Summary: Y/N has been Peter Parker's best friend since freshman year of high school. Now, they're in college and Peter is still working as a "Stark intern," as far as Y/N knows, and is staying to live with him for a couple of months. After Peter and Y/N are assigned a project to work on together, Y/N visits him to get to work and runs in to Tony. However, after what was a semi uneventfully normal night, things take a turn for the better when Y/N and Tony have different things in mind.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I completely threw canon out of the window; Peter's in college, Tony's still living at the Malibu Mansion and isn't in love with Pepper. He also still has JARVIS instead of Friday. Ned and MJ aren't in this one, but I guess you could say that they went to different colleges than you and Peter. (if anything regarding college seems a bit unrealistic, I'm still not in college so I don't really know what it's like sorry) By the way, sorry that there's so much dialogue. Any feed back is greatly appreciated because this is my first fic, so thank you!!

       “Hey Pete, you mind if I come over on the weekend so we can start working on this project?” You asked your best friend, bumping shoulders with him as you walked out of the school doors.

       “Yeah, no problem! I’ll probably be home all weekend, so just stop by.” He replied. You and Peter had hit it off ever since you first met in freshman year Advanced Algebra II class in high school. You two were inseparable, he was the geeky aspiring chemist kid ready to enjoy high school, and you were the pensive writer, always dreaming of something more. Now, you two were in college, living the dream. The stressful, microwaveable-food-filled dream, but the dream nonetheless.

       You and Peter had just been assigned a project for your astronomy class, and you were super excited. Recently, you’d been super interested in astronomy and convinced Peter to sign up for the class just for fun for the new semester, and you couldn’t be happier. Nothing sounded better than studying constellations with your best friend.

       “I’m so excited!” You said, unable to contain your emotion, “I wish we could start today, but I know, you have your Stark internship and blah blah blah.” Peter opened his mouth to say something, “Nope! Don’t apologize!” You cut him off before he could begin speaking, “I’m happy for you, just make sure you’re ready to fucking rage this weekend on this project.”

       “You know, when normal students ask someone if they’re ready to fucking rage, they’re talking about a party. When you say it, you’re talking about school of all things.” He commented, exasperated.

        “Good thing I’m not normal, then!”

~~~ 

       It was Saturday night, and you’d just finished hanging out at the beach before you realized you had to work on the astronomy project, so, naturally, you rushed to get to Peter, not bothering to change clothes. _He wouldn’t mind,_ you thought, making your way up to the door and unlocking it. 

       “Honey, I’m home!” You called out as you stepped inside, dropping your bags rather loudly on the clean hardwood floors. No response.

_That’s weird._ A little more cautiously, you called, “Peter?” slowly walking into the massive living room. Peter was staying at Stark’s house for a while, and being in such a huge space while it was quiet and dark was a little unsettling. “Peter!” you whisper-shouted, peering around the room. _This better not be some joke,_ you thought, beginning to become irritated. _Hell! I rush all the way over here, didn’t even get to change, and he has the audacity to not be here._ You knew you were being irrational, but still, you were allowed to be annoyed. _This bathing suit is comfy, but rough denim shorts and an old zip up hoodie do not feel that good against-_ “Ahh!” You shouted as you felt a rough hand on your hip and a strong arm wrap around your neck from behind you. Quickly, you put your hands up.

       “Stay still.” A rough and deep voice that you recognized as Tony Stark’s commanded. You felt hot breath on your neck as he kept a tight grip on your body. “Stay still, and you won’t get hurt. So many people have been after Peter recently, and I swear to God, if you were planning on being one of them, you chose the wrong place to do that,” He murmured into your ear. You didn’t know what to say. “So, if you don’t mind, please explain what you’re doing sneaking into my house.”

       “Um, Peter, he gave me the key to your house. I’m so sorry if-“ You began.

“Oh my God, Y/N? Is that you?” immediately, you felt his grip and posture relax. “JARVIS, turn on the lights.” He turned you around. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry, I didn’t recognize you in the dark, I’ve been in my lab all day without contact from the outside world and-“ He started rambling.

       “Mr. Stark! It’s fine! I don’t blame you, being Iron Man is no casual business,” You cut him off, “no hard feelings.” You assured him. _It’s a bit weird he would be that worried about Peter, an intern’s, safety,_ You thought to yourself.

       “I just- I’ve been stressed lately and I swear I didn’t recognize you,” He took a moment to look at you, and suddenly, you became conscious of the fact that he still had a hand on your shoulder. “You look good!”

       “Oh, uh, thanks?”

       A look of realization came upon his face, “Oh- not that you don’t always look good! Okay, that sounded kind of creepy. That got weird. I’m not weird. I just, I mean, you’re not ugly.” He said, rubbing the back of his neck.

       “Thanks, I guess.” You laughed. “Sorry that I scared you, Mr. Stark. Peter said he would be here during the weekend so we could work on this astronomy project for school, and I’m used to just showing up unannounced at May’s place, so... Yeah.”

       “Please, call me Tony. And yeah, no problem. I’m sure Peter’s just out, he’ll be here in no time. Feel free to make yourself at home, you know, mi casa es su casa.” He said in a horrible accent, awkwardly motioning with his hands.

       “Okay, Tony.” You laughed.

       “Well, I’ll be downstairs. Come down if you need me.” He said.

       “Sure thing.”

_Well, here goes nothing_ , You thought to yourself, fully knowing it would be hours until Peter came home.

~~~

       Hours had past, and you’d made a pretty significant dent in the work. Still, it was already 12:30 in the morning and you hadn’t heard from Peter. Hesitantly, you began to tiptoe down the stairs to the lab. Why tiptoe? You don’t know. Realizing how weird you were being, you straightened yourself out before gently knocking on the glass, “Come in!” You heard a voice call out from seemingly nowhere. A head you recognized as Tony’s popped up from behind some sort of robot. “What can I help you with?” He asked.

       “I just was wondering if you’ve heard from Peter, it’s kind of late and there’s no sign of him. So….” You trailed off, suddenly finding yourself bashful in front of this man you usually were able to joke around with.

       “Oh! I haven’t heard from him, but I wouldn’t worry. You’re free to stick around to wait if you’d like?” He offered.

       “Sure, um, thanks. It’s tiring, but it’ll be nice to have a head start on this project once he comes home.” You said.

       “Yeah, school can be stressful... So…. Whatcha working on?” He asked.

       You let out a slight laugh, “Oh my god, finally somebody’s interested in what I’m learning! Peter and I are working on a project for our astronomy elective. We get to map the night sky on certain nights and then identify the constellations. It’s pretty easy objectively but there’s just a lot of analysis behind the project and we have to do it for a lot of nights… I’ve been interested in astronomy lately and I somehow managed to convince Peter to sign up for the elective with me. It’s just like, the sky’s so cool, ya know? There’s so much we still have to learn about the universe as it’s expanding. Also, everything’s just very pretty, if I’m honest...” You went on, rambling about the beauties of the unknown and about life on other planets. Tony was looking at you with an expression you’d never seen before, but you liked it. It made you feel like someone actually cared about what you thought.

       “You know… if you want, I could show you some pretty cool close ups of some stars and planets, a while ago I worked on some just-for-fun tech that’s able to do that. You’ll be able to get a clearer image of the sky, one without all the air and light pollution. That sound cool?” He asked.

        “Oh my god, really? That’d be so cool! Thank you so much!” You could’ve squealed, had you not been in front of genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, Tony Stark.

       “Of course, here, let me show you,” He said, taking your hand. “JARVIS, clear the floor, would ya? We want the clearest view possible for the little lady.” He said, giving you a little wink. As JARVIS moved everything, he lead you to this box-looking machine. Using his hands to guide yours, he stood behind you, getting ready to explain the tech. To be frank, you did not mind the position at all. His arms wrapped around yours as his front almost touched your back, allowing you to once again feel his hot breath fan your neck. “It’s pretty simple, really,” He spoke into your ear, “This is the on button, this is where you enter your coordinates, and then this arrow pad and joystick control your image.” He explained as he toyed with each control. You almost whined when he took a slight step back, reaching for an object that looked like the same controls just on a smaller scale. “But, it’s better if you just use this, more leverage,” He explained, handing you the device, “Same concept, smaller scale.” He gave you a lopsided smile.

       “Thanks,” You breathed out. Honestly, you didn’t know what to expect as you flipped the on switch. Maybe a projection of the night sky on the wall?

       “Hold on a second,” Tony said, “JARVIS, turn off the lights.” And with that, you were engulfed into a blanket of darkness. “You may proceed,” You took a breath in as you typed your coordinates, and, with a click of a button, you were suddenly enveloped between what looked like millions stars. The once pitch black room was filled with floating orbs of white and reddish light. You thought you could even see some planets, seemingly off in the distance. It was as if you could reach out in front of you and touch the night sky.

       “I didn’t know what I was gonna see, but this blew me away,” You laughed, slowly spinning to get a good view of what surrounded you, “This is awesome! How’d you figure this out? Wait- on second thought, don’t explain that to me, my brain might combust. This is- this is magical.” You said, taking a look around. He laughed.

       “It’s actually pretty simple,” You heard a voice come up from behind you, “But, as you wish. Can you recognize any constellations?”

       “To be honest, it’s hard to see any since I’m not used to seeing this many stars so close together,” You admitted, still staring at the spectacle in front of you, “it sounds like fun to figure it out.”

       “Oh, trust me, it is,” He said, grinning, “you mind if I show you some right now?”

       “Be my guest.”

       “Gladly. Right there you can see Jupiter,” He said as he stood directly behind you, pointing toward a bright and shining sphere, “And, right there,” He guided your hands on the joystick, “is Antares. If you zoom out you can see the full Scorpius constellation.”

       “I’ve never seen anything like this. Thank you so much,” You breathed out, afraid to make any motion with Tony in such close proximity.

      “Oh, it’s nothing,” He said, dismissively, “Glad to do anything I can to help.”

       “No, really, I mean it,” you turned around to face him,“Thank you, for everything,” You said. “I hope I’m not being a problem,” You laughed a little, looking up at Tony with a slight hint of worry.

       “It’s my pleasure,” He replied as he stared into your eyes for a moment too long. You took a moment to really look at Tony, with his milk chocolate eyes, surprisingly good looking facial hair, the laugh lines, the worry lines; it was easy to see how he had women falling at his feet. He had clearly lead a rich and eventful life. “Now, let’s get back to the stars.” He said, distracting you from your spiral of thought. Turning you back around, he reached from behind your body and covered your hands with his, guiding you through what seemed like hundreds and thousands of stars. It was so easy to get lost in them. To see them with such detail was amazing, but it was also hard to not get distracted by Tony being so close to you.

       After a while, you got used to the feeling of his presence behind you; he was so close you could feel the heat radiating off of him while you breathed in his cologne. Slowly, you pressed into the front of his body, feeling him still for a split second before resuming explaining everything to you.

_That could’ve been an accident,_ he tried to rationalize. Slightly disappointed from the lack of response, you pushed on, Tony’s breath faltered as you removed your hand from one of the controls, placing it on top of his to trace patterns along his skin. _Oh. Okay. That wasn’t an accident_. Still not satisfied, you decided to take it a step further. Slowly, subtly, you made rhythmic movements, rubbing against Tony. If you were being honest, you had no idea where your newfound confidence was coming from.

       “Y/n- what are you doing?” He questioned, letting out a rough breath.

       “Hm?” You questioned innocently. You continued to look around at the stars, although Tony had stopped moving the image. _Finally,_ You thought, _maybe I’m getting somewhere._

       Tony was starting to become more and more noticeably affected by what you were doing; his breathing seemed more concentrated while he tried his best to focus on the stars surrounding him. He looked up, wondering how it came to this: him hung up on one of Peter’s friends. If it were anybody else, he would happily reciprocate their advances, but it was almost as if he were scared to with you. Scared he would mess things up with Peter, scared he would somehow break you. Ever so gently, he got closer to you, causing him to be pressed up against you completely. Taking this as a sign to keep going, you moved your arms so that his were slightly hovering around your waist while he held the control, not quite touching you. Realizing his hands were occupied, you took the control and placed it on a table beside you. You felt Tony let his hands fall around your hips. There was no space left in between you as you began to move with one another, causing heat and friction to build up.

       “Fuck, Y/N, I can’t take this anymore,” Tony breathed, turning you around to face him. He buried his face into the crook of your neck, walking until he had you against a wall. “Can I?” He asked, looking into your eyes. You nodded vigorously before being cut off by a pair of lips attaching to your exposed neck. A shaky sigh escaped from your lips as you ran your hands through his thick head of hair. Tony snaked his hands into your unzipped hoodie before sliding it off of your arms and dropping it onto the ground, not willing to stop kissing you. “You’re so beautiful,” He mumbled into your lips. Eagerly you kissed him back, enjoying the feeling of Tony’s rough hands against your back. Goosebumps rose along your arms as Tony paused for a second to push your hair back and murmur, “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted this, princess.” He began to nibble on your ear, causing you to become weak in the knees.

       “Fuck, Tony,” You breathed, arching your back and resting against the wall. He made his way down your neck to your collarbone, leaving a trail of love bites behind. You threw your head back, giving him more room to work with as he found your sweet spot. You let out a slight moan, causing him to suck harder on your neck before rubbing his throbbing erection onto your heat. Your hands flew to his back and felt his muscles tense as he lifted you up onto a table. You could feel his erection harden as he stepped in between your legs. Heat ran all throughout your midsection as you grinded against his rough jeans, desperate to get any contact you could. Tony mirrored your actions, pressing close against you, but he was frustrated by the lack of freedom the table gave you two.

       “Okay, you know what, this isn’t working,” He said before picking you up and heading to the lab door. You didn’t let the fact that he was walking up stairs stop you, you kissed Tony’s jawline and began to leave a hickey before he stumbled against the wall. “Listen princess, not that I don’t love where this is going, but you’re going to have to stop a bit for me.” He purred, resting his forehead against yours.

       “Okay.” You sighed as you buried your head into his neck, breathing in his cologne. Too impatient to do absolutely nothing, you drew patterns on his back until he set you down on the couch. You attempted to resume kissing before he stopped you for a moment, causing you to whine from the lack of contact. Quickly, he took off his shirt and hovered over you. You stared up into his big brown eyes, letting your arms loosely wrap around his neck. In this moment, you felt quite vulnerable, in your bathing suit and jean shorts, underneath a billionaire who seemingly had it all, but you also felt safe, cared for, wanted.

       “Keep going,” You meant to sound commanding, but you’d sounded more weak than you wanted to. You were about to speak again but Tony’s lips prevented you from saying anything else, and you noticed that this kiss was softer. It felt more tender and held a different kind of passion. Slowly, you slid a hand down his back, bringing him closer to you. You found yourself in a much more delicate environment, and were afraid to break it. You relished in his warm touch, not wanting the kiss to end, but slowly he opened eyes and pulled away. He looked at you with a slightly worried expression on his face, as if he was searching for any signs of regret. You brought him back down for another kiss, bringing a hand to play with his soft hair. Suddenly, you heard a click at the door.

       “Peter!” you both exclaimed in unison.

       “Hurry! Put your shirt back on!” you told Tony, reaching for his shirt before tossing it at him as he ran for the other side of the room. As fast as you could, you tried to fix your hair and make it look like you’d been working on the project the entire time.

       “Peter! How are you?” You slightly shouted as he walked through the front door.

       “Oh, hey Y/N! What’re you doing here?” he let out a nervous laugh.

       "You said you’d be here so we could work on the project, but I couldn’t find you. Tony was home and said I could wait for you so I decided to stay a bit and work on the project.” You motioned to your project, and Tony, who was awkwardly standing on the other side of the room.

       “It’s one in the morning,” He said, giving you a slightly confused look. “Oh, hi, Mr. Stark.” Tony gave a slight wave.

       “Must’ve lost track of time, then. Silly me, oops.” You let out an awkward laugh and grabbed your backpack, “Well, I better get going.”

       “You sure? You-”

       “Really, Peter, it’s fine. I took my car here anyways, I can drive back home. Thanks for letting me stay, Tony. See you on Monday, Peter. Bye!”

       An awkward silence fell over the room as the door shut. “Something seem off to you?” Peter turned to Tony.

       “Nope. Never noticed anything. I’ll uh, I’ll be in the lab if you need anything.” Tony responded as he turned on his heel, making his way down the stairs.

       “Huh.”


	2. Chapter 2

           Monday came, and you’d spent the entire day trying not to think about Tony. You rested your chin on your hand, staring out the classroom window. Despite your attempts, you couldn’t help but remember the way his hands felt roaming your body, the way he seemed so rough yet caring with you that night. All throughout your astronomy class you couldn't help but think how much more you enjoyed Tony's way of explaining things than the way your professor did. He could make anything sound like the most interesting thing in the world. You shook your head, trying to rid your brain of the thoughts that distracted you from learning. Tony was just another fuckboy, he just happened to be a slightly older, richer fuckboy than all the other ones at your school. A charming, handsome, fuckboy, but a fuckboy nonetheless. You couldn’t mean more to him than a ruined one night stand... Could you? “Stop it, Y/N.” You muttered to yourself, trying not to let you get your hopes up. Eventually, you finished your last class of the day. Your day had not gone that great, and having Tony intrude your thoughts did not make it better. Relief washed over your body as you made your way down to where Peter usually picked you up, ready to just go home. However, it seemed like the universe had different plans. Instead of Peter’s car being in its usual spot, a flashy sports car took its place. You groaned as you remembered Peter was absent that day. Taking another step, you peered inside to see who was driving the car.

       “Tony?” You asked, not believing you were seeing the man you so desperately wanted to forget. You stepped back for a second, realizing others around you had seen the super famous billionaire waiting for you in the car.

       “Come on, hop in!” He motioned for you to sit next to him.

       “What are you doing here?” You questioned.

       “There’s no time to explain, just get in.”

       “Not until you at least give me a hint as to what’s going on.” You crossed your arms, unwilling to give in to his antics. Tony’s face soon turned into a smirk, and before you were able to tell him to stop whatever he was planning on doing, he started honking his horn. People’s heads turned towards the scene: Tony Stark sporting an obviously expensive car, hand continuously pushing the horn, and you, next to the car, flustered and unknowing what to do.

       “Tony- stop! Stop honking the horn, you’re causing a scene.” You pinched the bridge of your nose.

       “What? Sorry, can’t hear you. Some asshole’s abusing his horn.”

       You couldn’t believe he was doing this in front of so many people, so shamelessly, so seemingly proud of what he was doing. “Tony! Stop!”

       “Still can’t hear you.” he shouted over the blaring horn, shrugging his shoulders at you with a playful look behind his eyes.

       “Fine. Fine!” You tried to speak over the noise, “If I get in the car will you stop it with the horn?” The loud and obnoxious honk came to an abrupt end.

       “Sure! Why didn’t you just say something?”

       You rolled your eyes before begrudgingly getting into the car. You took a moment to check it out as he pulled out of the parking lot: it was immaculately clean and smelled fresh; your ratty backpack seemed out of place amongst the detailing that oozed luxury. Suddenly, your phone went off, signifying what you hoped was Peter texting you. Quickly you scrambled to retrieve your phone from your back pocket, eager to see what he had said. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Tony become momentarily distracted. His eyes darted to your phone, as if trying to see who the text was from. Still mildly annoyed with him, you turned away from him, blocking his view. Once Tony’s eyes were back on the road, you checked your screen. It was a text from Peter, but it didn’t really explain why he was being spotty.

              Peter: _hey y/n, im super sorry for being out of touch, i promise i wasnt trying to ignore you or anything and i promise ill try to make it up to you. can you make it today to mr. stark’s house so we can finally work on the project together ?? ill be home at like 5_

              You: _okk, explain everything to me when you get home_

       Before you could tell Peter what you got done with the project, Tony interrupted you. “So, who’re you texting? A boy?” He asked, trying to sound the least interested as possible. Realizing he was probably jealous, you bit back a smile. You shoved your phone into your backpack, contemplating whether or not you should play with him for a little bit.

       “Doesn’t matter. So, what was so important that you needed to cause a scene over in front of everyone at school?” You shifted in your seat, you needed to act casual. You weren’t necessarily lying, you were just not telling him the truth, but still, avoiding the truth was never really your strong suit.

       “If you really must know, you were in such a rush on Saturday that you left your jacket down in my lab.” He explained, seemingly unaffected by your lack of response, “So, I thought that I might as well just bring it over here and drop you off while I’m at it since Peter wasn’t here today.”

       “Oh, okay. Thank you.” you said. You felt a little bad for being so quick to snap at Tony, but he probably deserved it. “By the way, do you think it’s possible that I could maybe come over to your house today? Peter said that he would be there today so we could actually work on the project together.” You hated that your voice got higher the more you went on with the question, like you were already thinking about the implications it bared. Tony smirked and chuckled a little bit, causing you to hit him in the shoulder.

       “Hey! What was that for?”

He glanced at you.

       “You know what you did.” You replied, sounding more curt than you meant to. You were not planning on going along with Tony’s little bit. All you wanted to do was get to the house and work on the project with Peter. Luckily, the car was nearing the mansion. The hill his “humble abode” was on had a great view of the ocean, so you tried to focus on that, ignoring the twinge of biting bitterness you felt growing in your stomach. You felt yourself spiraling into a bad mood, and you knew nothing good was going to come from that, especially since Tony seemed to be in an especially playful mood today.

       “Come on, what did I do?” He teased, bringing you back into reality.

       “Nothing.”

       “No, really, please explain to be what I did to deserve being hit on the shoulder.” You looked over to him. He still wore that same irritating smirk, and you had the urge to just wipe it right off his face by saying something witty, but you couldn’t come up with anything, so you ended up exploding at him.

       “You wanna know what you did, Tony? You let me stay over at your house and acted all sweet and charming while the guy I was meant to see was off doing who knows what. You probably knew he wasn’t coming home anytime soon, I mean, you’ve been living with him for like, what? Two months? But no, you still played your nice guy act and had me staying working on the project for hours. Then you decided to show me this _beautiful_ model of the universe you just had lying around. How convenient, right? I bet you show that to all the girls you bring down to your lab. You had me convinced I was this special girl, when in reality I was just something you could entertain yourself with while Peter was away…” You trailed off, slowly beginning to realize that maybe you thought yourself into a swirl of negativity.

       Hugging yourself, you tried your best not to look at the uncharacteristically quiet Tony Stark. The longer he stayed silent, the easier it was for you to debate with yourself on whether or not your feelings where baseless. On one hand, it was you who initiated the make out, but on the other hand, he had let it go on, and he had a reputation for being a player. Slowly, you found yourself rationalizing and getting less and less angry. You hated how he could do that. How he could so easily change the environment, the tempo, your thought process. Tony had a grip on you, and he wasn't even trying. He hadn’t even said a word, and here you were starting to come up with arguments for him, rather than against him. After a few more moments of silence, the car came to a stop in front of the entrance. He began to speak, but you cut him off, swinging the door open and rushing to the front of the house, even though you didn’t have a key, so all you could do was wait for Tony as he made his way to you.

       Silently, he unlocked the door before letting you in. As soon as you both were inside and the door was shut, you were sandwiched in between Tony and the wall. His arms were on either side of you, preventing you from walking away. He glanced back and forth between your eyes, as if he was searching for something in them. It looked like he was trying to figure you out, his brows faintly furrowed and his lips slightly off to one side, yet his expression still held that same softness it did on Saturday night. In contrast to the dominant position he was in, when he spoke, his voice was gentle.

       “Do you really think so little of me?” He asked you. You didn’t know what to say, so you racked your brain for responses before realizing you maybe were projecting your insecurities onto the situation a little bit. You sighed before answering.

       “No, I don’t. I’m sorry. I just, it’s hard to, you know, not be a little insecure, when you constantly hear people go on and on about how you’re this womanizer billionaire. I’m just this ordinary girl who happens to know you because my friend is one of your interns. I feel stupid for thinking that you’d want to be with me and-” Tony cut you off by kissing you. It was tender, caring, affectionate. Your eyes fluttered shut as you linked your hands behind his neck. You felt him lower one of his hands to your cheek, while the other slid to the small of your back.

       “You’re not stupid, Y/N. From what I’ve heard, you’re one of the brightest girls I know. You’re no ordinary girl to me. Please believe that.”

       “But what if I’m not enough?” You asked, letting your head fall down.

       “Y/N! You’re more than enough! Why can’t you see that? Even when I overhear you talking with Peter, you’re constantly putting yourself down. You don’t see your worth. It’s like you’re looking at a foggy mirror and blaming yourself for seeing a blurry image. I need you to understand that you will always be infinitely more than enough.” Tony lifted your chin up, bringing your eyes to meet his. He kissed your forehead before pulling you into a hug. You let yourself lean into his embrace, accepting the much needed warmth. In his arms, you felt safe, wanted, welcome. Eventually, you pulled away and sighed. There was nothing more you wanted than to stay with Tony and just be at peace, but you knew you had a project to work on, and Peter would be coming home eventually. You leaned up on your tippy toes and gave him one quick kiss on the nose, effectively startling him. The surprised look on his faced caused you to smile.

       “As much as I’d love to stay like this, I have to get ready for this project. Peter’s gonna be home any minute.” Tony gave a slight whine before releasing you from his grasp. A ring from the doorbell signified Peter’s arrival.

       “Speak of the devil,” Tony muttered. You laughed as you walked to the door to let Peter in.

       “Peter! Hey!” You pulled him into a hug. “I feel like it’s been ages since I’ve seen you.”

       “Woah. Someone’s in a good mood.” he laughed, "Hey, Mr. Stark. I didn't think you would be home so early.

       “Took a day off." Tony explained, "Alright, I better leave you two kids alone. Work hard!” Tony said, heading downstairs towards the lab.

       You helped Peter set down his things and then sat down on the couch. There was a tiredness behind Peter’s eyes that you couldn’t help but be curious about, but you knew that whatever he needed to say, he would talk about when he was ready. “You ready to work?” You asked Peter, clapping your hands together.

       “I’m ready to fucking _rage._ ” he responded, causing you to laugh at his silly reference to the last Friday. You and Peter set out your supplies as you explained what you had accomplished and how much work was left. You could tell Peter felt guilty about you doing so much work by yourself, but you sent him a reassuring smile and got to work.

       Hours had gone by, and you two were almost done with the project. By the time you guys stopped working, it was 2am.

       “Oh my god, Y/N, it’s two in the morning,” Peter laughed, “I think we better get some sleep.”

       “Agreed. Thank God we don’t have any classes tomorrow, or we’d be screwed.”

       “You got that right. Let’s head to bed.” Peter led you by your elbow to his room. You two were close enough that you could change in the same room if you just turned around, but you hadn’t brought a change of clothes. Like the gentleman he is, Peter let you wear some of his. He wore a pair of sweatpants without a shirt while you got his “I survived my trip to New York” shirt and a pair of his boxers. To be frank, you looked kind of like a mess, but you didn’t really care. You and Peter hopped into bed, not minding to take care with keeping distance, because you both knew Peter was a sleep cuddler. A long time ago you and Peter had made sure to set things down as strictly platonic, he had Liz, and, now you had Tony Stark. Setting boundaries often came to your advantage on cold nights, since Peter was an unusually warm person. However, no matter how cuddly he was, you couldn’t fall asleep.

       Your mind raced with thoughts of Tony, the night he had shown you the stars in his very own lab, and when he’d told you how much he cared about you. After a few hours of lying completely still in fear of waking up Peter, you’d decided to visit Tony. As slow as you could, you climbed out of bed, leaving Peter with a pillow he could cuddle. He was an exceptionally light sleeper, and you had to resist the urge to give yourself a high five for pulling that off. You snuck into Tony’s room, slowly pushing the door open, only to realize Tony couldn’t sleep either. He stood at his window, staring out at the ocean. You let yourself in and wrapped your arms around Tony’s waist.

       “Couldn’t sleep either?” He asked you, putting his arm around your shoulder,

       “Nope,” You paused, “It’s beautiful, isn’t it? The way the moon reflects off of the water.” You sighed as you leaned into his touch.

       “Yeah. When I can’t sleep I sometimes just dramatically stand here, staring wistfully into the sea like a wife waiting for her sailor to come home.” He laughed. “Hey. You know what, let me show you something,” He took your hand and led you onto the roof. Once you two reached a fairly flat spot, you took a seat, not bothering to stop holding hands. “Even though the city lights kind of hide the stars, it’s fun to just stay up here and look at the sky once in a while.”

       “Wow, the billionaire playboy has a soft side to him after all,” You teased. His chest rumbled as he let out a little laugh.

       “Shut up, you know you love it,” he responded. A silence fell over the two of you, and he took it as a cue to lay down. You followed suit, laying your head on his chest. The two of you stayed like that for a while, enjoying the peace each other’s presence brought. The wind's breeze washed over you, making you shiver. Tony pulled you closer and rubbed your arms in an attempt to keep you warm. Eventually, that turned into him lazily dragging his fingertips over your shoulders over and over again.

       “I think if we stay like this a little longer, I’m gonna fall asleep.” You chuckled, leaning into Tony’s side as your eyes fluttered shut.

       “Fair enough." He said, "Up we go.” He stood up and picked you up off the ground bridal style. If you had any energy left in you, you would’ve fought to walk down, but instead you just put your head against his chest and let him bring you downstairs. He began taking you to Peter’s room before you objected.

       “I wanna stay with you a little longer. Please?” You gave him your best puppy eyes, and before he could realize what he was doing, he sighed and set you down on his bed. You sighed in content, opening your arms for Tony to join you. He chuckled at this and lied down next to you. Nuzzling into his neck, you couldn’t be happier.

       “We gotta get you back in bed before Peter wakes up, so I’m setting an alarm for an hour.” Tony explained, much to your chagrin.

       “Fine.” you sighed before drifting off into sleep.

       Despite your discontent, Tony stuck to his word, waking up an hour later to carry you to bed. You hadn’t woken up, and he didn’t bother in trying to wake you up. He walked you down the hall, taking a moment to pause outside Peter’s door. Staring at you in his arms, he fondly pushed pack a strand of hair in your face that had gone astray. Looking down at you and reflecting caused him to realize how whipped he was and was going to be. It scared him, how much he cared about you. He couldn’t help but wonder how the world would react to your relationship, how Peter would react. But, he knew to savor the little private time he would have with you. Gently, he placed you down next to Peter as he whispered into your hair.

       “Good night, princess.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!! I'll most likely post a little blurb for an epilogue later. As always, feedback is appreciated! If you have any tips for not writing so much dialogue, lmk!!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The "morning after" at the Malibu Mansion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! This is just a draft I had saved from last year. I didn't plan on posting since I didn't know if I wanted to go anywhere with this imagine, but I might as well. If anyone's interested, let me know! As always, feedback is appreciated. <3

         Warmth washed over Tony’s face as rays from the sun peeked through his curtain. He groaned, stretching his arms over his head before letting out a deep breath. The bed felt slightly bigger than it had before without you in it, but admittedly, he had gotten better sleep than he had had in a long time. However, he still took a while to get up; he didn’t want to face Peter. If he were being honest, he didn’t know what he was more scared of: Peter’s reaction, or the outcome of his relationship with you. It felt a bit uncharacteristic for him to be this worried over what people thought of him, but you and Peter held a special place in his heart. He stayed in his blankets for a little longer, calming himself down to go downstairs. Little did he know, you were facing the same dilemma. 

         You woke up in a struggle to stay on the bed, half of your body dangling off it’s edge. It was hopeless to try to put off the inevitable, but in vain you gripped for the blankets, grunting in effort. Peter stirred, letting out a sigh, and you knew what was coming. He stretched his arms and legs, effectively pushing you completely off the bed.  _ Thump!  _ You landed on the ground. 

         “I’m awake!” Peter shot up, startled at the noise.

         “Yeah, a little late for that,” You grumbled from the ground. You let yourself lay there, trying not to think about telling Peter about you and Tony. The cool floor served as a momentary distraction, but your mind still wandered to trying to figure out how to break the news to him. You tried to slow your thoughts down, reminding yourself that Peter was your best friend and would be understanding. He wasn’t the type of person to judge at all. He would be okay with the fact that you were now practically dating his boss. “Oh God.” You mumbled to yourself.  _ I’m dating his boss.  _

         “Up and at ‘em, Y/N. Let’s go, I’m hungry.” Peter snapped you back into reality.

         “You’re always hungry,” You turned to lay on your stomach and rested your face on your arms, “And I’m cold.” You mumbled, reaching up and stealing his blankets.

         “Hey!” Peter’s head popped over the edge of the bed,  “I just washed those.” He threw a pillow at you.

         “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let’s go make some pancakes before you starve, and hand me my leggings while you’re at it, please.” He tossed a pair of leggings you kept in his drawer so you could change.

         You trudged your way down the hall, now clad in your leggings, tired from staying up so late last night. Peter, however, seemed energetic as ever. He bounced his way past you, shouting something about music at Jarvis before an upbeat song filled the house. The melodic tune drowned his laughter out as you saw him make a sharp turn into the kitchen and almost fall. You couldn’t help but shake your head and laugh as you joined his antics, soon shaking the excess sleep off your body when you danced to the beat with him together in the kitchen. Jumps and spins interrupted you from grabbing all the supplies needed for your pancakes as you mouthed along to the song. Set up alone took ten more minutes than it should have, but you were having fun and weren’t preoccupied with worry, so you didn’t really care. Once you finished gathering everything up, you set to work. Peter stirred the dry ingredients in a bowl, making sure to mix the powders in time with the song, while you worked on the wet ingredients.

         “Should we make banana pancakes?” You asked Peter.

         “Hell yeah!” He shouted, pumping his fist and getting some powder on the floor. You tilted your head back and laughed at his silliness as you added bananas into your bowl. After what should have taken less than half the time it did, you and Peter poured pancake batter onto some pans. Soon after, you guys took a seat at the table, the music serving as a background noise to the sound of you and Peter out of breath and panting. Admittedly, you were more winded than him so you got a glass of water.

         “Pete?” You asked.  _ It’s now or never. _

         “Mhm?” His head perked up.

         “I kissed Tony while you were gone.” You rushed out.

         “Yeah I know. I saw it coming from a mile away,” You nearly choked on your water, “Don’t worry, I’m cool with it. It’ll take some time to get used to, though.”

         “Oh, okay. Thanks for being cool with it then.”

         “No problem. The way you and Tony had acted after I walked in on you ‘working on the project’ gave it all away. It just confirmed my suspicion when you got out of bed last night and I saw you with Tony when I went to ask if he had seen you.” He explained.

         “Wow, I guess nothing gets passed you.” You let out a laugh.  _ That went better than expected. _ After the initial shock passed, you and Peter got up to flip the pancakes, creating multiple stacks as time went on. The sweet smell of banana and savory fried butter filled the air, warm and inviting. You couldn’t help but take a deep breath in, savoring the familiar scent as it engulfed you. It felt so domesticated and normal. Homey and safe. By the time the pancakes were finished, you forgot all about the worries you dealt with when thinking about telling Peter about Tony, and were just excited to try the pancakes you made together. Just as you and Peter had fixed your plates, Tony groggily walked into the kitchen.

         “Why do I hear extremely loud music? It’s only- Oh, hey Y/N! Didn’t expect to see you here.” He feigned surprise.

         “It’s alright. I told him already.” You replied.

         “Oh, thank God. Glad to have that over with. Do I smell pancakes?” His eyes searched the room before landing on the hot breakfast, “Jackpot.” He mumbled as he headed over to the food and picked up a pancake, plopping down onto a stool; it was apparent he was still recovering from waking up. You couldn’t help but laugh at his silly behavior. Now that everyone was in the know, you could finally let out a sigh of relief, not being riddled with doubts about Tony’s feelings for you or having to hide things from Peter. It felt good to let yourself be at peace and in content. Peter made up some excuse about having somewhere to be before grabbing some pancakes and leaving you and Tony alone. 

         Peter’s playlist came to an end and left you in silence, allowing you to take in Tony’s appearance. His disheveled brown hair stuck out in every direction, prompting you to card your hand through his locks in an attempt to tame them. He brought your hand down to his cheek and pressed it against his face, savoring the tender touch. Staring into your Y/E/C eyes for a moment, he began to speak.

         “I’m glad you asked me for help with your project. I don’t know how this could’ve happened otherwise.” He chuckled.

         “I didn’t ask you for help. You offered it to me, unsolicitedly I might add,” You laughed, “But yeah, I’m glad this happened.”

         “Mmm, no, I’m pretty sure you came down to my lab because you needed my help,” You opened your mouth in protest, “But to each their own” He cut you off.

         “I don’t think that’s how it works. But, I’ll let you win this one. I know it helps boost your ego.” You teased. 

         He leaned forward, “Yeah, it does. Thanks.” he mumbled into your lips. He wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you in between his legs, deepening the kiss. You snaked your hands up towards his shoulders and began playing with his hair at the nape of his neck. When you pulled away, you let your hand linger on his face, tracing his jawline with your finger. You were incredibly glad that your circumstances allowed you and Tony to be completely unguarded with each other, no longer consumed with insecurity or doubt. It would take a while to get used to, and it felt new, but in a good way. Being with Tony felt like the sun’s rays beating down on your skin at the beach, warm and familiar, but also felt as fresh and rejuvenating as the crisp breeze carried by the wind from the ocean. It was the perfect mix of home and adventure, and a tiny bit cheesy. You rested your head against Tony’s chest and listened to his heartbeat, taking in his cologne, before asking him a question.

         “Tony?”

         “Hm?” He ran his hand up and down your back.

         “Are you almost done with breakfast?”

         “I literally just got here, so no. Why?” He asked.

         “I had something in mind. Let me know when you’re done!” You ran down the hall with a mischievous glint in your eye.

         “Y/N, what’re you up to?” Tony shouted down the hall, but to his dismay, he was met with a laugh and the slamming of a door.


End file.
